Sword Casting Hall.

When Ou Yezi saw Zhao Jiuge take out all the required materials one by one, he smiled like a child. He no longer had the majesty of a master.

In contrast to Ou Yezi’s expression, Zhao Jiuge felt his heart ache while he took out the materials one by one.

In particular, when he saw the Chaotic Thunder Aurora, the corner of Zhao Jiuge’s mouth twitched. Just this had cost him more than 3,000 sect contributions!

He stretched out his right hand toward the box. He wanted to see exactly what this Chaotic Thunder Aurora was.

His palm was suddenly knocked away by Ou Yezi, leaving a red mark on the back of his hand.

Ou Yezi was furious and said, “What are you doing!? If you had opened this box, your Chaotic Thunder Aurora would’ve been wasted and you would’ve had to buy another!”

Zhao Jiuge was shocked and his eyes widened. “What is this thing? Just one look and it's gone?”

“This Chaotic Thunder Aurora is collected from the void above and can only be contained in this kind of wood. It insulates the thunder, and any other material would exhaust the thunder. I want to incorporate it into your armor.” Ou Yezi looked at Zhao Jiuge like he was looking at an idiot.

Zhao Jiuge withdrew his hand, unsatisfied. He felt reluctant because he wasn’t able to see what it looked like.

Looking at the other strange and colorful materials on the counter, Zhao Jiuge was too lazy to pay attention to them.

“Master, how about I follow you to take a look?” Zhao Jiuge thought about something else. Since there was still about three months until the inner sect selection and he had nothing to do, why not watch his armor being refined.

“Scram, don’t delay my refining. This armor will take about two months to refine. It will be done before the inner sect selection. Come back in two months, and tell little sloppy to take you to the bottom to find me. It should be almost done by then.” Ou Yezi waved his hand and was ready to leave. Now that the materials were all gathered, he couldn’t wait. Compared to Zhao Jiuge, he was even more impatient.

“Purple Ji Spirit Stone and inner core. I want to see what kind of armor I can make.” Ou Yezi walked off muttering to himself. He held those materials like a child holding their beloved toys.

Master Ou Yezi not allowing him to watch was fine. He would just go back and consolidate his cultivation. Two months would quickly pass and then he would return.

However, Zhao Jiuge still had a question in his heart that he didn’t know how to ask. He stood in front of Ou Yezi, acting very indecisive but not getting out of the way.

Seeing Zhao Jiuge’s expression, Ou Yezi, who was in a rush to refine the armor, loudly said, “What? Is there something else?”

Zhao Jiuge shyly asked, “This… I want to ask if the chance of failing is high.”

There was a certain chance of failure when refining a treasure that could lead to all the materials being destroyed. For a miser like Zhao Jiuge, this was worse than taking his life. In his heart, he hoped for a top-quality armor to be refined. This was why he was embarrassed to express his worries out loud.

Hearing this, Ou Yezi blinked and finally understood why Zhao Jiuge was acting this way. Thinking about this, he angrily said, “I don’t know if the chance of failure will be high or not. I only know that you’re blocking my way and delaying me from refining, causing me to be in a bad mood. Then the chance of failure will be 100%.”

Hearing this, Zhao Jiuge was so frightened that he quickly got out of the way. Ou Yezi laughed and took a sip of wine from the gourd. He looked at Zhao Jiuge’s expression and then cheerfully went to refine the armor with the materials.

Seeing Zhao Jiuge’s worried look, the sloppy young man smiled and comforted him. “Rest assured, with Master Ou Yezi personally reigning, even if the quality doesn’t turn out great, it won’t fail. Come back in two months and I’ll take you down myself. You’ll be able to see the Purple Ji Chaotic Thunder Armor then.”

Zhao Jiuge nodded.

He felt a bit uneasy and a bit excited while he said goodbye. He left the Sword Casting Hall and was ready to return to his residence to cultivate for two months. There was less than three months left until the inner sect selection.

When he returned to the familiar courtyard, Zhao Jiuge felt an explicable sense of melancholy. In about three months, he would have to leave this place and live on another mountain peak.

Zhao Jiuge pushed open the door and saw Luo Xie sitting on his bed, seriously cultivating.

Zhao Jiuge smiled. Time was a good thing—it could see through someone and change people. Even this stinky brat knew to seize every moment to cultivate. Before, Zhao Jiuge would never see Luo Xie around, but now, every time he came back home, Luo Xie would be cultivating. There was less than three months left; he hoped that Luo Xie could enter the inner sect with him so they could cultivate and grow together.

Zhao Jiuge sighed and also sat on his wooden bed to cultivate. He was going to adjust his state. He hoped to participate in the inner sect selection at peak condition.

He closed his eyes, activated his cultivation method, and the spiritual energy around him began to fluctuate.

Inside his dantian, the three golden dragons were being nourished, and his spirit force had reached the peak of the Foundation Realm after absorbing the spirit vein.

The vortex inside his body was rotating like crazy and showed signs of liquefying. When the center completely liquidized, he could condense his spirit core.

Zhao Jiuge pondered a bit. Not only had his cultivation increased, but with the Sanskrit Divine Body, he was much stronger than people in the same realm.

Also, his spirit force had two attributes, so he held the advantage. He also had the Eight Desolate Sword Formation, but unfortunately, it was incomplete. When there was time, he would go to the Ten Thousand Devil Cave.

He was much stronger than before, but he still had to work harder. He threw aside all distractions and slowly gathered spirit force. He hoped to condense his spirit core soon.

……

Two months later.

Zhao Jiuge suddenly awakened from his cultivation. During these two months, he basically hadn’t moved, as he had been cultivating this whole time. The vortex in his dantian had been rapidly rotating.

What was different from two months ago was that there were even more obvious signs of the vortex turning to liquid. In these two months, his cultivation had been consolidated and all the spirit force from the spirit vein had been completely absorbed.

Looking at the opposite side, he saw that Luo Xie was still cultivating. During these two monthsm Luo Xie hadn’t stopped cultivating. From his current auram he was at the peak of the Spirit Transformation Realm and was only one step away from the Foundation Realm. Yet there was less than a month left until the inner sect selection.

Zhao Jiuge was worried for his brother. If Luo Xie didn’t reach the Foundation Realm, he wouldn’t meet the minimum requirement to enter the inner sect.

He sighed in his heart. Everyone had their own fate. He could only silently pray for Luo Xie.

Soon, Zhao Jiue’s depressed mood was replaced by excitement. Today was when his first treasure would be completed!

Filled with excitement and uneasiness, Zhao Jiuge took a deep breath. There was a flash of silver and the Big-Dipper Sword appeared before him. He quickly rode the sword and flew away.

He returned to the Sword Casting Hall, and his mood was very different from before.

As his mood improved, the passion burning in his heart became even stronger.

When he arrived at the bottom, Zhao Jiuge didn’t see the sloppy young man. Fortunately, it was not his first time here, so he followed the familiar stone gate to the building with the exhibition hall.

As soon as he entered, he saw the sloppy young man at the counter instead of Brother Lu. He had a frown on his face while he was trying to figure something out.

Hearing footsteps, he looked up and saw Zhao Jiuge, so he smiled. “You came!”

Zhao Jiuge nodded and couldn’t help but ask the most important question in his heart. “Has Master Ou Yezi come out yet?”

The sloppy young man shook his head and said, “No, but he should come out soon, since it’s been two months. Seeing how anxious you look, do you want me to take you over there now?”

The sloppy young man’s words matched Zhao Jiuge’s intent. Soon, the sloppy young man put down his work and led Zhao Jiuge down to the bottom, the location closest to the earth fire.

It was the first time Zhao Jiuge had come to the bottom. He moved to the bottom of the mountain that had been hollowed out and came to a steep hidden passage.

After walking into the passage, he arrived at a stone room similar to the room just outside the spirit vein. Zhao Jiuge deliberately looked around but didn’t find a mysterious elder in black.

Sure enough, after passing this stone room, there was another world there. A giant cave appeared before Zhao Jiuge. Inside, there were more than a dozen furnaces built on top of natural earth fire.

The surrounding walls were dyed by the orange fires from the furnaces. Most of the furnaces were empty; only three had people before them staring inside. These furnaces never went out, so they were constantly burning.

Across the room, there were stone steps two people wide that led to the bottom. The sloppy young man led Zhao Jiuge down to the furnace Ou Yezi was using.

Ou Yezi was wondering while starting at the furnace. He didn’t pay attention to them and continued thinking about something.

Neither the sloppy young man nor Zhao Jiuge disturbed Ou Yezi; they quietly waited on the side. They curiously looked at the scene inside the furnace.

This shocked Zhao Jiuge greatly. His gaze was completely locked onto the item inside the fire.